Road Test
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is the reference tool physicians use to categorize and diagnose disorders afflicting the mind. It's actually a fascinating read because of its careful definitions of problems from anxiety to depression to various personality disorders. As with most medical books, too much reading leads eventually to hypochondria. We mention this not because we were trying to discover the root of the irascible Ed.'s behavior, but because after many miles behind the wheel of Volvo's new S80, we wondered what sort of personality disorder this big Swedish sedan might have that was keeping us from connecting with it. Then we realized that a prerequisite for a personality disorder is a personality. Try as we might to uncover it, the S80 exhibited no trace of a personality. Gothenburg, we have a problem.
Playing in a thoroughly competitive car segment, where well-established players BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Lexus, and Infiniti brim with character, the S80 offers all the flavor of Wasa crispbread, which is like eating particle board, but Swedes find it delectable. Part of the trouble is that the S80 doesn't seem to know what it wants to be when it grows up. This identity confusion can be seen in the various settings the car offers. Order the $2495 Sport package, and you get three settings (low, medium, and high) for steering effort and three suspension settings. Chassis stiffness varies from slightly too soft (comfort), to almost right (sport), to just wrong (advanced). No matter the setting, the suspension and the structure are noisier and harsher than those of the S80's German rivals. With all these settings, Volvo seems to say, "We don't know what this car should be. You figure it out." But try as we might, we couldn't find a combination that made the S80 feel lively or excited about its existence. No matter what steering-effort setting we selected, the wheel lacked the feedback one finds in a 5-series or M35/M45. There is, on the other hand, good on-center feel, so the S80 excels at cruising in a straight line, but if you gravitate toward roads with the twists of a small intestine, there are other choices in the segment that are more satisfying.
The problem is that the S80 handles like a front-drive car. That's not a surprise considering this Volvo carries 61.5 percent of its weight over the front wheels. Aside from the front-weight bias, the front-wheel-drive feel can also be traced to the all-wheel-drive system that sends 95 percent of the V-8's power to the front wheels in normal driving. So, unlike its rear-drive or rear-drive-based all-wheel-drive competition, the S80 is essentially a front-drive car (six-cylinder Volvo models are in fact only available with front drive) adapted to all-wheel drive.
Front-drive handling characteristics are rarely desirable, but it's a death sentence in a segment where rear-wheel drive and balanced weight distribution and handling are the norm. An electronically controlled center clutch pack will send as much as 50 percent of the power rearward if wheelslip is detected, but unlike the more sophisticated all-wheel-drive system in the Acura RL, which is designed to provide rear-wheel-drive handling with all-wheel-drive traction under acceleration, Volvo's AWD system seems set up solely to increase the traction under acceleration. With the stability control switched off (it's never fully off, however, and will insist on intervening if it determines that you're getting the car too far out of line), the S80 will briefly power oversteer, but the car doesn't exactly revel in, or encourage, this sort of hooliganism. The 0.87 g of lateral grip is impressive, but most of the credit for that number should go to the wide Pirelli P Zero Rosso tires that come with the Sport package.
The one burst of sunshine in the Swedish winter of our discontent is the Yamaha-built 60-degree V-8 engine screaming between the front wheels. Identical to the V-8 in the XC90 sport-ute, the all-aluminum engine displaces 4.4 liters and puts out 311 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. Perhaps due to its not ideal 60-degree bank angle, the V-8 delivers a raucous intake snarl at full throttle. It's a pleasure to hear a V-8 working hard, and the sound is the most sporting aspect of the S80 experience. At 4179 pounds, the S80 is heavier than most others of its class, but the V-8 has 792 fewer pounds to contend with than in the XC90, and the result is a 0-to-60 time of 5.7 seconds — a few ticks slower than its more expensive V-8 rivals but quicker than comparably priced six-cylinder variants. The engine is perfectly matched to a six-speed automatic with manumatic override and all-wheel drive. Quick downshifts and healthy torque make for stress-free passing well into triple-digit speeds. Premium fuel consumption during our drive was V-8-like at 14 mpg, just shy of the 17 mpg of the EPA's city cycle and far short of the 25 mpg highway number.
It's easy to creep into big-ticket territory in the S80. An absence of wind noise, comfortable and supportive seats, and the aforementioned accurate on-center steering make the S80 feel secure at autobahn speeds. Inside, the S80 is a serene (66 decibels at 70 mph) and calming environment that is an evolution of Volvo's interior design. A floating center console, similar to the one in the S40, houses climate and radio controls. Attractive and striking pewter-like switchgear and bezels are peppered throughout, and for traditionalists, there are swaths of polished wood on the doors and dash. Simple yet elegant tachometer and speedometer gauges sit next to each other and house digital displays for fuel level, trip-computer readouts, and various warning messages. Interior materials are first-rate, and the graining on many of the plastics is unlike anything we've seen before in a car. Rear-seat room feels better than in a 5-series or E-class and about on par with that of an A6. The interior is by no means groundbreaking and the competition also offers luxurious cabins, but Scandinavian design permeates every aspect of the S80's interior, and that may be enough for those loyal to the throne of King Carl Gustaf.
